Labour will create a national landlord register to protect tenants from what the party calls “unscrupulous property owners.:

Party leader Sir Kier Starmer, in an interview with the Mirror newspaper, says he stands behind a “talented generation … left behind and forced to struggle” with fast-increasing rents.

Starmer says in the interview: “There is a whole generation of young people, with dreams of homeownership, that now feel unattainable and unrealistic. Generation rent have been completely abandoned by this government. Left to attempt to cope through a cost of living crisis forcing them into endlessly spiralling costs, and too many unscrupulous landlords having the power to do what they want.

“There is no hiding the fact that rogue landlords do exist, and generation rent are left with little, and sometimes no measures to protect themselves. That is why I am committed to introducing a national register of landlords, allowing us to crack down on the people taking advantage of the system.

“The Prime Minister’s inability to take on his Party means his weak, reckless, short sighted planning changes, leave generation rent in a headlock.

“We’ll reverse them and enforce requirements on local areas to build in line with local need. My Labour Party won’t be shy about taking on speculators and nimbyism in the name of the next generation of homeowners.

“Our raft of measures – from setting locally led house building targets, to giving first time byers first dibs on developments – will support the aspiration of hard working young Brits and make their dream of home ownership a reality.

“Labour is proudly the party of homeownership. We’ll reverse these reckless changes and reintroduce requirements for local areas to make sure enough homes are being built where they’re needed. It isn’t right that hard working young people are being priced out of their areas, squeezed by rents, and having their ambition to buy a house taken from them.

“Labour will also actively support first-time buyers with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme and by giving them first dibs on new houses in their area, to ensure far more families can enjoy the pride and security of owning their own home.”